Recent reviews by ThatOneGuntank

Despite everything...

The lack of meaningful updates,

The bots,

The general feeling of a game that peaked a decade ago slowly decaying,

Despite it all, I still love this game and I hope it's always there for me to come back to.

Well that only took me 8 years to get off my backlog. Oh god time is passing at such an incredible rate I was only 18 back then.

Anyway this game is fun a bit repetitive but rolling boulders downhill is hypnotic in a way and the Monty Python skit packaging ties it all together quite nicely. So yeah spam mammoths and catapults and keep rolling rock and rolling.

“Just what I’d expect from the man with the same code as the boss” – Revolver Ocelot

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Overture – An Excellent Satirical Throwback to the MSX Days of Metal Gear

UnMetal represents something that I honestly have not encountered much of in my days of gaming: the genre parody. Now when it comes to film, we can talk all day about excellent parodies like Naked Gun or any Mel Brooks picture. These take the conventions of a popular genre and turn them on their head while also maintaining the spirit of what is being satirized. So, just as Spaceballs is both a comedic satirization of both Star Wars and the greater space adventure genre so too is UnMetal a parody of both Metal Gear and the larger stealth action genre. However, a comedy can be funny and maybe have some of the finer technical aspects of film-making glossed over. The same cannot really be said of a game; you can have the most hilariously written game but if it is not paired with fun and engaging gameplay there’s going to be issues. Luckily UnMetal succeeds in both fronts.

Gene – Dominant Genes Passed Down from the MSX

At its core UnMetal is able to provide satisfying stealth action gameplay while also utilizing its game mechanics to further enhance the games comedic satire. This game is fun to play but more specifically it is fun to master. Perfect stealth is encouraged through the earning of experience when enemies are taken down without being detected. This is a great touch and encourages players to perfect their strategies in each level to get the most benefit. However, you could also say that perfect stealth, especially in the later levels, is demanded as it is the only viable strategy. I’ve seen this brought up as a major point of criticism but I believe the game is correct to prioritize stealth gameplay. Combat is at its best in UnMetal during its boss and other designed encounters. Bosses give you a singular target with a unique pattern to maneuver about and fight while designed combat sequences allow for a balanced encounter that lets the player utilize force. This has been the case of nearly all Metal Gear games, combat is not encouraged between bosses and designed alert phases because fighting your way through isn’t the point and UnMetal follows that design principle brilliantly. We’re left with a game that’s fun to stealthily weave through that still has an intense fight with a nuclear submarine that puts your reaction times to the test.
But that’s not all! UnMetal uses its gameplay to make jokes too! This was especially fun to see. There are plenty of moments in which the game utilizes its inventory and combination system similar to that of Resident Evil in order to deliver jokes about the absurdity of what is happening in game. Mixing ‘Chloro’ and ‘Form’ to make chloroform, combining four C1’s to get one C4 and it goes on. These are small things but they show an effort to bring some of the parody into the gameplay itself as opposed to having it all maintained in cut scenes and dialog.
If I had to guess the largest point of criticism that could be leveled at this game it may be difficulty. On hard I found this game to be frustrating at points but never unfair. Save and checkpoints are frequent and you are never far from throwing yourself right back into a boss fight. So, I found it to be a quite rewarding challenge to memorize patterns and perfect my own skills to take these challenges on. Some may take issue with the classic style of stealth gameplay it can be simplistic but what is presented is nothing short of very well curated. No area is dull or un-interesting nor is any one segment of the game particularly worse than any other. It’s a good time, I especially enjoyed the barracks stage with a group of jogging soldiers roaming the base. Alright there is a weird segment where you have to pilot a submarine that’s unlike any other part of the game but it isn’t very long, I still don’t really get why it’s in the game though and probably does weaken the overall experience more than it adds.

Meme – Memes Jack the DNA of the Soul

Alright the gameplay has me sold because I’m a nerd who can appreciate old MSX metal gear and it’s good but the main selling point for most people here is probably going to be the comedy. Don’t worry the game is funny. Yes, some of the jokes are groaners. Yes, some jokes go on for too long. But this is comedy it’s going to be highly subjective to individual tastes. My favorite parts lay mostly in the way the game is being framed. UnMetal is a story within a story and events and logic change based on player choice at certain points as the story is being told. It feels as though Jesse Fox is laying down tracks as the train moves down them and that’s exactly what’s happening. I find this premise quite funny and the ultimate payoff satisfying. Take that and then add in plenty of nods and references to other genres and movies and sure not all of them are as hilarious but there is an admirable vision that I believe is executed on well. Perhaps decreasing the amount of direct reference humor like the drill sergeant for instance would help keep the game more cohesive but overall, the game does not rely heavily on those types of jokes. The game sets out the goal and executes quite well on what somebody would sound like trying to manufacture a Metal Gear type plot out of thin air and for this I’d recommend it.

Scene? –Let’s Just Talk About the State of Things and Conclude

It’s likely that no other game will come in the Metal Gear series and in a way seeing something like UnMetal gives me some form of joy in the sense that it’s good to see someone create something so clearly inspired by it. Sure, there is room for improvement, stealth could be a bit more in depth similar to MG2 with the addition of crawling but I can see that probably wasn’t the point. Sure, you could trim some of the fat and less critical jokes and segments but there would not be much to cut. I can say the same about some of the Metal Gear games not every narrative beat is always necessary nor is every section uniquely fun. Piloting a submarine may be a bit goofy and a different type of gameplay but so is piloting an RC missile through vents to blow up a generator in a room with the US president. So, in a way I love this game for the entirety of what it is and I think every fan of Metal Gear should definitely give it a go.

So it's finally time I get to rant about Control. Before I begin however, I can briefly sum up my thoughts as follows: Control is good and I enjoyed my time with it. It offers great visuals, fantastic atmosphere and an interesting main plot. The game is mainly held back by its repetitive combat, shallow upgrade and crafting system and weak side content.


Environmental Design

I think it's for the best I start with the positives. This game looks pretty good and utilizes its art style and direction to maintain a cohesive and unsettling atmosphere from start to finish. It captures the feeling of an imposing and impossibly large Federal building meant to house the paranormal nearly perfectly. Areas are consistent with one another without feeling the same and the game is also able to play with more para-natural environments like impossibly twisted corridors or areas in which pillars and blocks grow out of the walls like cancerous tumors. The map does tend to favor sheer volume without enough interesting content to fill said volume. This leads to genuinely awesome areas like the Panopticon to feel empty when all you get for exploring are some crafting materials. Overall, this is one of the games strongest areas.

Live Action Vignettes

Odd at first is the games use of live action actors. This ends up being an amazing decision and adds a wealth of life and dimension to the games narrative and world. Certain characters which the protagonist never meets in game are portrayed exclusively though live action performance which make the world feel more concrete and a certain puppet show adds an absurd amount unsettling horror. In short, Dr. Darling is fantastic and his presentations kept me playing I would pay to see more of him.


No. Alight, this is probably the games weakest area. So what is the issue? Well it comes down to the games fundamental structure. On its face the games combat is perfectly fine. Its a third person shooter which puts emphasis on mobility instead of cover which is in itself refreshing compared to the mountain of games using that system. However, variety in how you approach combat is severely lacking. While the game gives you access to about five types of firearms you may only equip two at a time. Outside of a melee and one specific attack guns and your telekinetic launch ability are your only damage options. In addition, all abilities in the game as well as the guns function via a regeneration system. Abilities rely on a regenerating stamina bar and guns use a regenerating ammo bar. The core loop can therefore be summarized as shoot/launch -> dodge and collect health while guns and stamina recharge-> repeat. Even the ability to levitate only adds being in the air to the above list. Essentially you are always dealing damage and then waiting to deal more damage; the only thing that changes is the type of projectile your gun fires and the amount of shots you have before you have to wait. If combat was not at the forefront these gripes would be more forgivable. However, Control is quite combat heavy and overtime this lack of variety becomes quite apparent and I found myself dreading the sound of enemies spawning.

Other Design Gripes

Control uses a sealed arena type of combat design in which upon entering an area it is sealed and enemies spawn as opposed to a world populated with predetermined respawning enemies. It also has an open world type of design that is most similar to Dark Souls. The main point of comparison being a map in which all destinations can be reached on foot and 'Control Points' which serve the purpose of the bonfire. These are points from which the player may level up change equipment and fast travel to other claimed points. My major complaint being that these two pieces of design conflict. There is a good reason that games like DOOM Eternal are going to respawn you at the start or just before the entrance to a combat arena. The idea being get the player back into the fun as soon as possible. Control says no to this and spawns you back at your most recent control point and says walk yourself back and do it again, don't suck this time. Pair this with boring combat and enemies that can sometimes hit like trucks if you're not careful and the game can become quite frustrating. The games leveling and crafting systems are also bare-bones. Leveling and equipable buffs are mostly just slight percentage based buffs which add nothing of substance to the game. There are two exceptions which unlock two new types of attack but it is way too little for a system lacking so much. Crafting itself feels like just an excuse to leave identical chests all around the game so when you're exploring you can feel like you've found something. It's completely harmless but it could easily not be there.


The game has a strong narrative and has the atmosphere and direction to carry the mystery and suspense of the game from start to finish. There was not a single point while pursuing the games main goals that I was bored. This is helped by some excellent set piece design especially towards the very end of the game. Ashtray maze onward is an absolute blast of creative level design and storytelling. The game does kind of just end; it is a slight bit anticlimactic but doesn't ruin the experience.

Time To Talk About the SCP Wiki

Overall the less I give away about the story the better. I can however dedicate some time to gripes I have with the games extraneous documents that are meant to expand the world of the FBC. I will be transparent, I'm a pretty big fan of the SCP Foundation Wiki which is obviously the main source of inspiration for this games setting. As someone who reads a fair bit of SCP content it was hard to reconcile that, in my opinion, the game is taking some of the more obvious elements of these works of fiction and creating in universe documents that come across as hollow imitations of the real thing. These documents are only there to give the vague idea that the FBC has items that are powerful or creepy and contains said items. It's purely optional lore but it's usually poorly conceived, falling into common pitfalls of bad SCP articles. Redacting data for its own sake being the main issue. Overall this doesn't detract from the games experience and accomplishes the goal of establishing the FBC as an agency that contains the paranormal I just personally wanted more.


There's a good game here and it's being held back from greatness which is always a pain to see. I'd much rather be writing this saying that Control is one of the best games I've played, and it has that potential, but the overall experience cannot reach that height. I can at the least recommend this title to most people; especially if you're interested in experiencing the narrative and atmosphere of the game over the core gameplay itself. If you're someone who gets annoyed or frustrated easily by repetitive combat it may be best to avoid or to just allow yourself to focus on the main content similar to myself. I think Remedy has a good thing going here and I'd be mildly interested in a continuation.

First off, the game is fine. It runs, has a mildly interesting story from what I can tell and it has gameplay that works. Main issue I have is that I don't find myself engaged by either the core gameplay loop or the narrative. Sure they're fine and I found myself mildly enjoying the game and mildly intrigued by the plot that was forming. However, it just doesn't do anything special for me. Yeah I got a chuckle out of some of the emergency calls and one was pretty suspenseful but I just feel 'meh' about the whole thing.

Even this review is apathetic and boring. The game is just not the kinda thing that I want to sit down at my desktop and play I've got better things on the backlog to play.

Like I said nothing really bad here I just don't really connect with it and find it boring. I can't personally recommend this game. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

First and foremost this game is excellent. It's atmosphere and colorful cast make being absorbed into the world easy while a surprisingly concise and interesting mystery keeps the player engaged. If you have a natural disdain for any type of visual novel format this game does offer, at the very least, surprisingly satisfying first person exploration and platforming. That is however all this game has: text and exploration to uncover the mysteries at your own pace. Don't expect any mini-games outside of three types of puzzles that are probably the weakest part of the game and could be removed or replaced but I digress. It's a good game I recommend it wholeheartedly to any fan of similar investigation games (you know which ones I'm talking about I'll get to the comparisons later).


Paradise Killer is a game that relies heavily on its world, characters and overall aesthetic to pull in and capture the player. Overall the game is incredibly successful at this. This purple and neon vapor-wave aesthetic is rather striking and is a great match for these over the top characters to live in. The games style also mixes quite well with the concepts of cosmic deities or 'Gods' as they are referred to in game that are more in line with powerful immortal aliens or eldritch horrors than any kind of 'God' in the usual sense. You hop around speaking to these characters listening to rocking synth and pop playing from the island speakers hit up your big tiddy goat Mommy friend and Daddy Doom Jazz to hang out and learn more and more about both the conspiracies of the crime and the horrible nightmare world that is the group you work for and overall are good friends with.

So here's the weird: typically games don't explicitly put you in the group of evil immortal cult members explicitly harvesting humans to resurrect eldritch deities let alone establish that you're all pretty good friends and believe in the cause for the most part. But hey, Paradise Killer does do that and while you can express your distaste for the system in a few scenes overall this premise is played extremely straight. There is no proposing of radical change or a plot-line to end the abduction and slaughter of people from the real world to your Outer Haven pocket dimension. This is also not really at the forefront of the games plot and makes up a good portion of the games world building and extraneous collectibles. You run around and while solving the mystery of the game you learn more about how the group (read: cult) you're a part of aren't great people at least on the cosmic scale of things. The story is more focused on the cast of characters and the morality of the entire system falls to the wayside. I imagine if this world is revisited for a sequel the morality of the groups actions will be explored in greater detail. Overall it just feels a bit strange to play on the end of the power structure we would usually be fighting to destroy.

Fortunately in my opinion there's nothing glaringly bad about any portion of the game. Does it have too many meaningless collectibles? Yeah probably but they're very optional and really only help build the world of Paradise Killer. I mean it really fleshes out just how horrible being an abducted human is; everything you find is either propaganda or notes on why putting people into small apartments really close together breeds disdain and murder victims. The other half show how deluded yourself and your friends are as you read descriptions of the gods you're trying to resurrect like "This god is known for insane technological advances also did genocide on like ten planets by experimenting on them" or "Is currently trying to eat the moon". The puzzles are just there nothing bad about them nothing good they could've been removed entirely or replaced with key cards that you find or some other system and the game would lose nothing this is probably the worse aspect of the game but it's essentially harmless.


So there's an annoying bear shaped elephant in the room. Anyone with two neurons to rub together and has played Danganronpa will notice the immediate similarities. The biggest being the emphasis on a cast of uniquely designed and memorable characters who exist as two dimensional sprites in the game world. This presentation and style is kinda Danganronpas' thing and is probably one of if not its biggest strengths so I can't be mad about a studio taking inspiration from a proven concept plus they probably really like Danganronpa. Luckily this is where the comparison ends (unless you want to say using a murder mystery or more general things like collecting evidence is ripping off these games in which case you are dumb).

What sets this game apart from those that came before is Paradise Killer emphasizes the investigation and discovery of facts heavily over the 'trial' scene. While Danganronpa and other games like Ace Attorney have scenes in-between trials and investigation moments it's all to build to the trial, in which the truth is revealed to the player. This is due to the investigation often being incomplete and the thrill is beating the odds and solving the case in a heated trial environment. In comparison Paradise Killer is a slow burn, you turn over the rocks and talk to suspects at your own pace and the mystery unfolds before you as you discover more and more pieces of the puzzle. You make connections yourself based on the information you learn and suddenly you've found the answers to each conspiracy. Once you've investigated each lead the trial is more of a formality in which you decide who to peg for each crime. This is the only true choice in the game and in my mind it's incredibly effective at doing one thing.


Paradise Killer builds ultimately to a trial scenario in which you get to unload all of the fruits of your investigation. Of course if you've followed each lead and explored the world you know exactly who did what and a pretty good idea of why they did it. So, the question becomes who do you accuse? You could easily charge all guilty parties only some or could potentially blame almost all of the crimes on one fall man and walk away. Who do you protect? Who do you take down? It's not much in the way of narrative control but I think it does say something interesting about what truth we divine from facts. We can selectively not acknowledge some facts because they don't fit the worldview we are comfortable with or the one we want. We all make our own truth. oh boy waxing philosophical in the steam review no one is gonna read cause it's too long

Play this game, get lost in the atmosphere and the mysteries. Enjoy the wacky characters and contemplate working for a cult. Talk to Daddy Doom Jazz and Goat Mommy. When you've done everything and said goodbye take one last look at the world you've been running, double jumping and air dashing around all while solving a murder case and take it in, write a steam review and close the book.

Edit: Grammar and like sentence structure and stuff

Disclaimer for People Who Don't Understand What This Series Is

I'm assuming since we're on installment three most people buying this kinda understand that they're signing up for what is essentially a long interactive film; in which their decisions are less about hugely changing the narrative but allowing for immersion into the narrative. Of course looking at negative reviews I would be wrong so let me spell it out. Do not buy this looking for a game where choices will put you on hugely different narrative tracks or for game play outside of QTE events and minor exploration. Look if any of this is a deal breaker that's fine just understand that instead of buying this thinking it's not an interactive film and getting mad cause you wanted something else. It does what it does well as I'll explain below for the none of you that read this.

Clearly the Best Entry in the Series Thus Far

The previous installment of this Anthology "Little Hope" really did leave me with little hope for this series of games. As far as audience insulting twist endings go it had one that made me livid, I mean I was pissed. But still it delivered a good atmosphere and co-op narrative for what it was worth so there was no way I wasn't going to give this one a chance. And it doesn't disappoint. House of Ashes delivers The Dark Pictures Anthology's best setting, plot and characters so far.

Why Does House of Ashes Succeed? Visuals, Setting and Bromance

House of Ashes looks pretty, it's a definite upgrade in visuals and especially lighting from previous entries and this helps with the games overall atmosphere allowing the narrative to become more effective. To me personally this doesn't really matter what gets me is two things. One, I love exploring the setting that is Iraq post Operation: Iraqi Freedom and some of the feelings that come associated with that. It doesn't do as much as it could but does touch on some of the questionable morality and effectiveness of what was going on. Two, there a couple of characters that stand out in particular which are Salim and Jason. The plot effectively revolves around the idea of enemies becoming friends due to a third evil party and even though its a simple premise I found myself attached to the main group and genuinely sad when things turned out poorly for Nick and Salim when we failed some QTEs. Boils down to the fact that you never leave a man behind Oorah to ashes boys.

I guess the next biggest point is that the threat is actually real this time not just hallucinogen gas or a weird PTSD Silent Hill dream sequence. I'm just really glad there wasn't a dumb twist ending it makes the struggles we went along the way more worth it in my mind. Other than that there's just a great amount of cool adrenaline pumping set pieces like manning a Maxim gun and stabbing several dudes with a big stick.

It's a good time go find those WMDs Marine.

This one isn't for everyone and I'm saying that in regards to the already small portion of you that have maybe wondered onto this store page. The game is unfair, it's hard as balls and on the original difficulty mode it'll even destroy people who are prodigies at strategy and resource management games. At the same time that's the point: it's unfair and difficult but the Gods will do it again and again struggling to achieve the best outcomes even though it doesn't really matter.

I think at this point it's important to note something about the difficulty options presented in the game from Original to Original lite to Narrative and even Puzzle modes which dull the difficulty and remove all RNG in the case of 'Puzzle' difficulty. Really with the options present most people should be able to experience the game in one way or another (though 'Original' and 'Original lite' are the only modes which give achievements and really the only modes where the games themes hit home hardest). Unfortunately if you strip away the unfair difficulty the narrative isn't gonna hit home as hard and you're going to be left with a decent sci-fi plot without the commentary on how we as players consume video games.

I've already started to ramble on too much. So here's what it comes down to: it's all pointless outside of what we as players make of it. We define when we are satisfied with the narrative. Is it when we completed the story? Or only when we've done it on a certain difficulty? Maybe it's when we get all the achievements, maybe that will make the experience more complete and fulfilling. Can us Gods stop watching once we've sat down and thought about the game and written a review no one will read? Look if you read this and think 'wow this game sounds like pretentious garbage' it's not trust me it's more than that it works as a strategy and resource management game that asks you to balance spinning plates and make sacrifices and it is very satisfying to complete the narrative is simple yet it has me here talking about it. I mean what about the Pataphysical implications of the plot when does a narrative die? I believe the game asserts that the story goes on until the last person stops watching in turn we are the ones that cause these characters to suffer. It's neat but not gonna get everyone going like it did for me.

I'd say give it shot after all the story only ends once we all stop watching.

But you already knew that and if you didn't I will now tell you why in too many words.

In short the game does what Yakuza does best; it blends a tense action thriller story and also jams in about 80 hours of side content ranging from goofy side stories to several mini-games or even entire game modes to playing Virtua Fighter 2 for 3 hours for some reason. Gotta play Yakuza dude what are you waiting for go start at Yakuza 0 and work your way back here.

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At first I was a bit worried that this game wouldn't live up to both Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami. The switch to the dragon engine was a bit jarring. Everything was so shiny and Kiryu felt a hell of a lot heavier to control and yearned for the Kiwami/0 engine. I'm glad to say though that once you get used to the new combat system things start to really click and the shiny new coat of paint make the cities of Kamurocho and Sotenbori really shine.

Let's talk about combat. At first, I lamented the loss of the distinct combat styles and style switching however the newfound weight of the overhauled physics really makes combat feel impactful and heavy. I feel like it really works even
though some of the style and complexity of the combat is lost. However, some new additions such as extreme heat mode and charge attacks keep the combat interesting. Essentially you will be playing the entire game in what is the dragon style of the previous games, which isn't such a bad thing. One thing I particularly enjoy is that extreme heat mode brings back elements of Best Beast mode which is rad. So overall I feel it's a bit of a downgrade but not enough to really hold anything against the game. Of course this doesn't matter if your a rad dude and just Tiger Drop everyone you meet.

So the combat is different but it's still fun. But what about the story? I hear all none of you ask. Well hypothetical person it's great! All of the twists and betrayal and absolutely rad title card entrances that you've come to expect are here. Gotta love Ryuji Goda dudes rad and I'm a sucker for motivations that are basically "THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE" which is what we've got here. Add in some bombs a foreign mafia some pretty good romance surprisingly and an ending that actually leaves Kiryu happy (Is this even legal in a Yakuza game?) and you've got a pretty enjoyable experience.

You like side content? Of course you do you idiot you're playing a Yakuza game. Get on board cause we've got 80+ hours of it here buddy and it ranges from amazing to kill me now. Amazing : Kiryu voicing a Yaoi game. Kill me now : Playing 72 bouncer missions OF WHICH ONLY 24 ARE UNIQUE . Seriously though most things presented here are excellent and the bouncer missions are the only content I really thought was egregious padding. I mean did we really need three versions of each mission seriously? But I digress, the game offers a good amount of side content you can even hang out with Haruka and be a good dad or sing karaoke with Majima.

Speaking of Majima, he's a construction worker now and it's great the mini-game attached isn't the best but it isn't horrible. He does get a small three chapter playable side story which is cool adds a little backstory to the game as well.

Another plus about a game like this is that if you decide you want all the achievements you get to not only bash your head against 72 repetitive bouncer missions but also get to learn how to play Mahjong which is hard but now that I know how to play kinda it's actually pretty fun. So hey thanks Yakuza I feel a bit more enriched as a person now.

Basically all of my complaints could be solved by not being a completionist and ignoring some of the more less engaging content but in comparison to everything the 72 bouncer missions is kind of a drop in the bucket and I had a ton of fun in my 130 hours with the game there's even gravure photoshoot sessions as a mini-game with sexy ladies or taking Kiryu to a place to watch movies ranging from implied porn to horror and then he gives a small review that tend to be pretty funny.

Oh I guess some people don't like the experience system but I thought it was fine not as cool as using literal money or having to fight Majima though so whatever it's kind of a minor aspect of the overall experience.

So yeah this game rocks.

Sometimes all you need is a change in perspective.

The entire game can be summed up in the line above. Superliminal is a fairly unique puzzle/narrative game which feels like a love child between Portal and the Stanley Parable. A wonderful bite sized game that is a treat for the brain. Perhaps the narrative is not the most engaging but the ways in which this game plays with space, optical illusions and how we perceive them are quite unique. It's worth playing just to see what the game does in order to visually confuse and trick the player.

A fun brain teaser that's not too hard and makes me happy about the concepts that can be explored in the medium of video games. A good time all around.